River Penk
Penk | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | England |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Penk Rise, Tettenhall Wood, West Midlands |
Mouth | |
• location | Confluence with the Sow |
• coordinates | 52°48′12″N 2°04′55″W / 52.80333°N 2.08194°W |
Length | 36 km (22 mi) |
Basin size | 356 km2 (137 sq mi) |
Discharge | |
• location | Penkridge[1] |
• average | 2.27 m3/s (80 cu ft/s) |
Basin features | |
Progression | Sow—Trent—Humber—North Sea |
Tributaries | |
• left | Moat Brook, Whiston Brook, Pothooks Brook, Rickerscote Drain |
• right | Watershead Brook, Saredon Brook, Deepmoor Drain |
The River Penk is a small river flowing through
Etymology
The name "Penk" is actually a
Course
The general course of the Penk is a descent from the mid-Severn sandstone section of the Midlands Plateau to the Cheshire-Shropshire-Staffordshire plain. Along much of its length, the Penk is shadowed to within a few miles by the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.
The Penk rises in
It then flows north to the market town of Penkridge, where it turns east and is joined by the Whiston Brook - a tributary which drains a substantial area, stretching out into Shropshire. Turning north again, it flows across the plain, past Acton Trussell and into a marshy area, where numerous drains have been constructed and brooks canalised to contain flooding. Passing on to Baswich on the outskirts of Stafford, it joins the River Sow, which itself soon empties into the River Trent - a major river which will empty ultimately via the Humber into the North Sea.
Wildlife
The river contains many species of fish including
The Pendeford Mill Nature Reserve is situated on the Penk to the north of Pendeford, within South Staffordshire but owned by the City of Wolverhampton. A 24-hectare area of lakes, wetland, ancient grass meadow and woodland, it occupies a part of the site of a large former country estate, Pendeford Hall, which possessed an osier bed of willows and a watermill, and dated to the 13th century. It was developed by Wolverhampton council after 1976 and is now host to a wide range of wildlife, particularly birds.
Tributaries
The main tributaries of the Penk, travelling south from its confluence with the Sow, are:
- the Deepmoor Drain, a canalised brook which collects the water from a network of brooks and drains to the east of the lower Penk, and runs parallel to it for several kilometres, before emptying into it just before its confluence with the Sow.
- the Rickerscote Drain, which performs a similar function in the marshy areas to the west of the Penk, running roughly parallel to it, and channelling the waters of the Rising Brook, the Silkmore and the Pen Pleck Drain into the river.
- the Pothooks Brook, a small river that originates to the north-west of Penkridge.
- the Whiston Brook, which joins the Penk just above Penkridge, and channels into it the waters of the Longnor, Church Eaton and Wheaton Aston Brooks, draining an area that extends into Shropshire in the west.
- the Saredon Brook, which drains a substantial area to the east, around Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley, and joins the Penk north of Coven.
- the Watershead Brook, which joins the Penk just south of Coven, and drains the Fordhouses and Bushbury areas of Wolverhampton.
- the Moat Brook, which channels water from numerous smaller brooks and drains around Oaken, Codsall and Bilbrook, and joins the Penk by the Pendeford Mill Nature Reserve.
References
- ^ "28053 - Penk at Penkridge". The National River Flow Archive. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
- ISBN 0-304-35385-X, p.864.
- ^ Hooke, Della. "The Landscape of the Staffordshire Hoard". finds.org.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- ISBN 0-460-86086-0, p.138
- ^ "Penk Rise river uncovered". Express & Star. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 16 September 2020.